Heroine's Legacy, Conversing From The Pit Of Hell
by Rye-bread
Summary: Tara buries Kim alive. Kim returns an Undead monster, sworn to kill the entire Stoppable family. Tara and Ron's grandson must guard her forever. But he wants to free her from her curse--by talking with her. Offshoot of Heroine's Legacy; script format.
1. Chapter 1

Your humble servant has been semi-busily writing a few dozen incomplete K.P. fan-stories for several years now. He has come to a fork in a road with a certain story--his personal fav.

Let me set up the backstory.

There's captainkodak1's "A Box Of Cuddlebuddies".

.net/s/3688706/1/A_box_of_Cuddlebuddies

Kim Possible has been buried alive by a jealous Tara, who wants Ron Stoppable for herself.

There's daccu65's "Family Legacy".

.net/s/4598053/1/Family_Legacy

Tara and Ron's kids accidentally unearth Kim--who has become an Undead monster

There's my own, "A Heroine's Legacy".

.net/s/4838011/1/A_Heroines_Legacy

Tara and Ron's grandson has been chosen the Bearer of the Lotus Blade--and Kim's jailer. But he dreams of something more--to free her.

I've heard what my readers are telling me. They want to get on with the story. I'm thinking of jumping ahead with the storyline of A Heroine's Legacy. We would proceed directly to the conversations between Kim Possible and Ron Possible. I want to focus-test a new format--sort of like a script. Gimme your reviews, oh my readers. Does it work?

In other words, I'm DNAmes--this is an experiment--and y'all are my guinea pigs.

Excerpts from stories with permish. Most grateful am I for my fellow fan-writers' generosity.

Disclaimer--most of the material in this chpt is culled from previously posted stuff. We are laying a foundation.

_**A HEROINE'S LEGACY: CONVERSATIONS FROM THE PIT OF HELL**_

(Kim Possible can recall many conversations during her time locked in eternal darkness. The first one begins as Tara entombed her alive.)

Kim: "Tara? What are you doing? Is this some type of sick joke?"

Tara: "No K, no sick joke. Just justice."

Kim: (shaking her head) "Justice?"

Tara: (nodding) "You don't deserve Ron. He deserves someone who will love him and never leave him. You Kim. I know you. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but I know in the future, some hottie or smottie will come along and Ron, your hero will turn into plain old Ron again. And then Kim, you would break his heart and probably not even know or care that you are doing so. So, I am making sure you never hurt him."

Kim (beginning to scream) "Tara, I LOVE RON. I would NEVER do that. Please Tara, let me go!"

Tara: (picking up the crowbar and beginning to lever the concrete lid back onto the top of the hole)

Kim (screaming) "Please Tara NO! For the love of GOD NO!"

Tara: "NO Kim, not for the love of God, but the love of Ron."

Kim: "NOOOoooooo……."

(The second conversation was twenty years later--after Tara and Ron's oldest son Lon accidentally freed her.)

Tara: (gasping) "Y-you can't be…"

Kim: "How long have I been in there?"

(Tara unable to speak as Kim strangles her)

Kim "You KILLED me Tara," "I thought I had escaped, so I went home and what did I find? My room wasn't my room anymore and I saw THIS," (pointed to her face) "In the mirror. I didn't escape, did I? YOU KILLED ME, TARA! YOU TOOK MY LIFE SO I'M GOING TO TAKE YOURS!"

(Tara manages to scream)

Ron (breaking in and battling with the monster) "Get away from my wife!"

Kim: "Wife?""You married Tara? YOU MARRIED MY MURDERER? Ron, how could you betray me like that?"

Ron: (gasping and sobbing in disbelief) "Kim?"

Kim: (also sobbing) "Ron, how could you?" "I loved you! We were supposed to be together forever! Tara killed me, Ron! Why did you marry her? Didn't I make you happy?"

Ron: "I…didn't…know…""Tara, what's happening?"

(Tara huddles against the wall with tears pouring from her eyes. Ron continues his stand off against what has once been Kim. None of the three knows what to do next. Suddenly, a sixteen-year old boy, in a gorilla costume, bursts into the room)

.

Lon: (coming in the house) "Mom, Dad!" Lon shouted. "What's going on he…."

Kim: (snarling) "Mom, Dad?" "You had a child? While I was rotting in that pit, you married and had a child?" "That wasn't a boys room I was in," "So you must have a daughter, as well. So this was the plan, Tara? You gave me a slow death and torment while you had a life and a family? NO MORE! It's time for justice! I'll take from you what you robbed from me! I'll take your life, I'll take your children!"

(Kim continues to battle Ron)

Kim: (snarling) "Don't do this, Ron!" "She did this! I don't have anything against you! I'll take from her what she took from me and then I'll go. Don't stop my revenge!"

Ron: "I can't let this happen," "I don't know what happened, I don't know why you're here, but Tara's my wife and Lon's my son. I won't let anything happen to them while I'm still alive to prevent it."

Kim: "That can be remedied, Ron," "If you throw in with…her…then so be it! I'll take her husband from her, as well!"

(Ron is forced to slash Kim to pieces with the Lotus Blade)

Ron: "Tara," "What happened here? What happened to Kim?"

(Kim's body begins to reform)

Lon: "Uh, dad?"

Kim's head: "You can't win, Ron," . "I'm already dead. You can't kill me. I'll finish you, then your family will be next!"

Ron: (stammering) "What can I do?"

Tara: "Put her back in the cistern! It held her this long…wait! She escaped! That won't work!"

Lon: "It's my fault! I opened the cistern! I thought I heard something inside, so I opened it up to let it out. I'm the reason she escaped."

Ron: "Quiet! Lon, go open the cover. Tara, go get a tarp, a canvas bag, anything."

(There is the brief exchange with Ron before the cistern lid was shut again.)

Kim: "Y'know, Ron--I'm gonna be so tweaked at you over this! I don't know if any amount of Ron-shine will ever quite make up for this poor treatment!"

(Tara, Ron, and Lon throw Kim back into the cistern)

Kim: (for just a moment, it was the sound of the girl's voice, a pitful entreaty) "No! Not that! Not again! Ron! It's been a lifetime! We were supposed to go swimming at Lake Middleton! Please! I love you!"

Ron: "I love you, Kim! But my children are my children! If I let you out--if I go to Yamanouchi--if I try to find a way--to restore you--if I even stay with you like you are now--will you leave my children alone?"

Kim: (angry again) "Stay with me like I am now? Like some kind of pity date from Hell? And her children--her children--still alive? Never! Not in a thousand years! Not in a million years!"

Ron (insane with sorrow) "Goodbye, Kim. I love you."

Kim: "Ronald Stoppable! I hate you! I hate her! I hate you both--FOREVER!"

(The lid is closed again)

Kim: (wailing) "RON! RON! I LOVE YOU! RON!!"

For the next fifteen years, Ron comes to speak with Kim every Halloween, through the old pipe from the pump room in the basement to the cistern. Then he dies.)

(It is another twenty years. And this time, Tara comes.)

Kim: "It's been awhile, Ron. Come back to talk to your zombie girlfriend?"

Tara: "It's me, Kim."

Kim: "Tara--I'm surprised you had the backbone to come with him. Nostalgic, are we? A reunion of the Cheer Squad? Are Bonnie and Jessica still alive? You could get them all down here! Bon-bon could be the top of he the pyramid--provided the ceiling is high enough out there!"

Tara: "Ron's dead, Kim."

Kim: "You fukking lying bitch--you WHORE! Don't GIVE me that shit! Ron! Where the hell are you? Sent the wifey to do your dirty work? You two have a spat? Is it something I said? Is that why you won't talk to me?"

"It's true, Kim. Ron's been dead almost twenty years."

"Tw-twen--! Twenty YEARS? It's been twenty more YEARS? YOU FUKKING BITCH! GOD DAMN YOU TO HELL, TARA RENE KING! When I finally die, Tara King--I hope to God you're still in one piece! Because if the demons haven't torn you apart by then--I WILL!"

(Tara whimpers)

Kim: "I can hear you bleating, Tara. Stop sniveling and get up. You obviously came down to tell me more than that. But hey--where are my manners? Have a seat. Make yourself at home. Let's catch up on old times. Help yourself to the kitchen and bathroom, if you need it. Haven't messed yourself, have you? Like I did when you stuffed me in this hellhole?"

(Tara recovers herself)

Kim: "So--just out of curiosity--what did Ron die of? I assume he actually died--that you didn't bury him first. That is a bad habit of yours. Just because you stick somebody in the ground and let the flesh rot off their bones doesn't mean they're clinically deceased--although that's probably something they never taught Mom at med school."

Tara: "After our daughter's wedding--he just took to his bed--hardly came out of his room."

Kim: "You sound bitter."

Tara: "The ninja girl came. Your--your--"

Kim: "Yori? From Yamanouchi?"

Tara: (bitterly) "Yes! Her! My husband died with her next to him--in his bed!"

Kim: (laughing) "Well, shit me! Way to go, Ron-Dog! Wifey kills me off so she can have him all to herself--then has to live like a nun for a couple decades--and on the last night of his life, a cutie in a kimono shows up and plays geisha! And you and me end up like a couple old widows who haven't been laid in forever! Damn, Tara--it sucks to be us, doesn't it? Well--there is a God after all--and He hates you as much as He hates me! So what's the happy occasion? Did you come just to cheer me up with your marital woes? So not the current gossip, Tara."

Tara: "Well--my grandson left for Yamanouchi."

Kim: "Another? Let me see--there's Lon--he's the one who dug me out--and Roy--"

Tara: "This one is Ron--my daughter's son"

Kim: Your daughter Kim? Named for me? Who married Ron Possible--my brother Tim's son? Well, hell's bells, Tara--you and I are practically cousins! But losing all your men to a little almond-eyed cupcake like Yori. That must hurt. You obviously tank at being a wife AND a mother."

Tara: (archly) "And you're obviously acquainted with all the details of my domestic life." She didn't know which was worse from Kim--her maniacal raving or her withering scorn. Kim was sounding like the old Bonnie Rockwaller.

Kim: "See? Ron kept me current on his yearly visits. I always figured he would even show me a slide show through the pipe. I think it was to try and make me feel less pissed at him and his fam. Like I would get all warm and fuzzy--(no longer mocking--now hateful)--LIKE I WOULD FORGET MY VOW TO MASSACRE YOU AND EVERY LAST ONE OF YOUR FREAKING BRATS! Yeah! Ron thought he was filling me in on the family tree! All he did was give me names for my death list! Now, Tara--let's get down to brass tacks! You didn't come here to brag on your grandkids! Tell me what's really on your beady little mind!"

Tara: (with difficulty) "I--I came to see if you would f----For--give m-me. And my family."

Kim: "Forgive--? Did you say that word? Forgive?"

(Kim slams against the wall. Tara yelps in fright.)

Kim: "You filthy, miserable, rotten WHORE! What kind of putrid shit is in your skull? What gives you the GALL--the NERVE--to say that word to ME?"

Tara: (jabbering) "I--I was hoping--"

Kim: "You were hoping. Do me a favor. Stick your face up to the pipe. Let me look you in the eye and see if you're really that stupid or just lying to me! And then I'll give you my answer!"

(Trembling, Tara puts her eye to the pipe--Kim makes a horrid face)

(Tara runs shrieking from the room--and faints)

Kim: (tauntingly) "I'mmmmm cominnnggg forrrrr youuuuu--Taraaaaaa! I'm gonna get Tara / I'm gonna get Tara! Really, Tara! The way you leave so quickly! Without even a proper goodbye! One would think you have a guilty conscious!"

Tara's second son Roy comes and hoists his mother's body over his shoulder. As he starts up the stairs, he stumbles and falls, bashing his knees. Tara's limp form almost falls off)

Kim: "Tara? Did you fall and hurt yourself? I'm so sorry!"

Roy: "Shut up, you monster!"

Kim: "Don't be coyyyyy, Royyyyy! I want youuuu, tooooo!"

(Then another comes--after Tara's death--after his graduation from Yamanouchi--the grandson of Tara and Ron--the grandson of Kim's brother Tim--Ronald Zimmer Possible.)

Kim: "I'm putting my eye to the pipe. I see you. You're not Tara--or Ron. You're safe from me, I can't get to you. I'm able to disassemble and reassemble myself. It's an ability inherent to my condition--being undead. I've tried to get through this pipe. My fingers could fit, but not any of my larger bones."

Ron: "I--I--I"

Kim: You look like a Stoppable--and a King--and a Possible."

Ron: I'm--Ron Possible. I'm-m--y-your great nephew."

Kim: "Let me guess. You're Ron Possible, Jr. Your parents are Ron Possible, Sr., Karen and Tim's son and Kim Stoppable, Tara and Ron's daughter"

Ron: "Y-you know the family tree."

Kim: "I don't have much else to think about while in my grave here. This is the day of your grandmother's yearly visit. Let me guess. She's dead."

(Ron nods)

Kim: "I can see you nodding. Cat got your tongue, Ronald?"

Ron: "No."

Kim: "Are you religious, Ron?"

Ron: "M-my grandfather Ron went to temple pretty regular all his life. Grandma Tara went to church a lot--after--"

Kim: "After I got out--and tried to kill her during my few precious hours of freedom."

Ron: "And my parents--"

Kim: "I asked about you, Ron."

Ron: "Yes, I attend church."

Kim: "Do you believe in Hell, Ron?"

Ron: "I think I do."

Kim: "You won't blame me if I think your grandmother should be in Hell, do you? For what she did to me?"

Ron: "I don't know."

Kim: IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY? 'I-DON'T-KNOW--I DON'T KNOW!' IGNORANT GRANDSON OF THAT IGNORANT LITTLE BITCH!"

(Ron collapses on the floor)

Kim: "Pathetic little brat! Did I frighten you! Imagine what it's like for me! ENTOMBED ALIVE! IN THE DARK! I screamed my lungs out! I went insane! And I NEVER DIED! I HAVEN'S SLEPT FOR SIXTY YEARS! OR EATEN! OR DRUNK! SIXTY YEARS OF EXHAUSTION! HUNGER! THIRST! I CAN'T REST! I HAVEN'T SEEN THE SUN SINCE TARA PUT ME HERE! THERE'S NO RELEASE! NO END! I'LL BE LIKE THIS FOREVER!"

Ron: "I--know--"

Kim: "You KNOW? How could you possibly KNOW? I was out of my prison for all of one hour forty years ago. I see the glimmer of a light bulb for fifteen minutes once a year! Never to hear a loving voice--feel a loving touch--see a tender gaze! You think I'm horrible! What do you think it's like me to have seen my own rotting face after twenty years? The look in the eyes of the man I love? He LOATHED me! CAN YOU IMAGINE?

Ron: "Yes--I can imagine--Aunt Kim!"

Kim: (shocked) "What--did--you--call--me?"

Ron: "I called you--Aunt Kim."

Kim: "Ron--I haven't a tender word from another human besides your grandfather in over half a century."

Ron: "Aunt Kim--I love you."

Kim: "You LOVE me? LIAR! GOD DAMN YOU! Before I dig my way out of this prison with my bare bony fingers--even if it takes a thousand years--even if your hellspawn family reinforces it with steel, or whatever synthetic material is invented--tell me convincingly how you could possibly say you love me."

Ron: "I love what you were--you could save the world in your spare time. I love you because I think it's still alive in you--the girl who loved the children she babysat--the girl who loved her Panda-roo--the girl who loved to shop at Club Banana--the girl who loved her friends. Felix Renton. Monique Knowles. Wade Load. Rufus. The girl who loved her family--her brothers the Tweebs. Whose father loved his Kimmie-cub. The girl who was my great-aunt--as Miriam Possible was her great-aunt. The girl who lost Ron Stoppable--as Miriam lost Jon Stoppable. The girl who was Ron Stoppable's beloved--the girl who could do anything--his K.P. No one believed that Mim wasn't guilty of the theft of Dr. Demense's invention--except my great-great-great grandfather Jon Stoppable. And no one who knows what you've become believes you can ever be the heroine again--except me. Like your father--my maternal great-grandfather--I think anything is possible for a Possible."

Kim: "You family-fuking damned grandson-of-a-whore. Trying to manipulate me. That's a fine speech you devised. If I had the chance, I would chew your arms and legs off--one bite at a time--so you wouldn't lose consciousness. And then I would pull your head off. I would puree your brains and drink them. Your grandfather had a knack for cooking. I'd love to show you what I remember of what he taught me."

Ron: "I'm going to prove my sincerity, Aunt Kim--I'll tell you how much I love you."

Kim: "I'm waiting--dear nephew."

Ron: "I'll be back tomorrow. Not next year--tomorrow."

Kim: "And what makes you think I look forward to that anymore than I looked forward to your grandmother's annual visits?"

Ron: "Because I have an offer."

Kim: "What kind of offer?"

Ron: "It'll have to wait, Aunt Kim."

Kim: "And what if I promise to cannibalize every one of your descendants when--not if--the next time of them is stupid enough to release me?

Ron: "You've already promised that, Aunt Kim. Every time Grandma made her annual visit."

Kim: "You think you can visualize what horrible things I'm capable of. You have no idea, dear nephew. I've had sixty years of unending darkness to think--and plan."

Ron: "Then think about this. What would you give to sleep--to eat--to drink? What would you give to see the sun again?"

(Ron listens--he hears the sounds of weeping)

Ron: "Aunt Kim? Would you mind the light left on?"

Kim: "N-no, Ron. I wouldn't mind."

Ron: "Then I'll leave it on. I be back tomorrow. Good night, Aunt Kim."

And so with a single term of endearment--Aunt Kim--and a few simple questions--what would she give to eat--and drink--and see the sun again--the grandson of Ron Stoppable defuses Kim Possible's hellish hatred--at least temporarily.

_Author's note: I'm taking a poll--a show of hands. Do you like this format? What I have in mind is to--brace yourselves--have Kim and her nephew reminisce __**each**__ of her missions. That's sixty-plus chpt's. This idea occurred to me late last summer. We--you and I, dear readers--will examine parts of Kim's life as a heroine. I will invite ideas from y'all._

_This is part is Ron Possible's strategy--to slowly coax his aunt back from the Dark Side--to wean her from her maniacal hatred of all things._

_Are my readers up for it? Am I totally mental? Gimme feedback._


	2. Chapter 2

My hard drive looks like a builder's workbench, or an artist's studio, full of half-finished stuff. My folder for the Heroine's Legacy story literally has more than 200 files, chpt's & chpt fragments.

All the reviews from chpt 1--y'all rock. I'll adress one here--in a way. My gal Alice Shade raises some good objections. They will be addressed as the story unfolds.

The guest list of Kim's funeral is by no means complete. I consider this at best a rough draft. But I promised my readers to give them the conversations between Kim Possible and her great-grandnephew, Ron Possible.

I will probably go back and revise--FYI.

The characters mentioned in this story are drawn from DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and the Kim Possible show.

You might be able to pick out the rough spots in this chpt. Thplotline for Bonnie and Brick is from my story A Time For Tenderness. The plotline for Wade's parents is from my story Three Redheads And A Spider.

_**chpt 2**_

_**back for more**_

(For the first time in her sixty year confinement, Kim can see the confines of her prison for more than just a few minutes a year. It is almost like being free.

Kim had read when she was younger--it seemed like another person's life--the effects of sensory deprivation on people in isolation and solitary confinement. How it both sharpened their senses and drove them insane. She laughs sarcastically to herself. She is certainly no longer mentally healthy. But an amazing change has taken place in the last twenty-four hours--to her light-starved eyes, the cistern now almost seems less dolorous. It is almost--livable.

She hardly admits it to herself. She is excited about her great-grandnephew's anticipated visit. Will he keep his appointment? Or will he break his word--like his grandparents seem to have done?

She hears the sound of footsteps echoing down the length of the pipe. She hears the door to the pump room open.)

Kim: "Good evening, Ron--I assume it's evening."

Ron: (the voice makes his skin crawl) "Yes, Aunt Kim, it's nighttime."

Kim: "It's always mystified me, Ronald. Why your grandmother insisted on visiting me on Halloween. And at night, too. Your grandfather, I could see. He could be slow, but once he got fixated on something, there was no talking him out of it. He came to me every Halloween--because it was part of the routine--Bueno Nacho every Saturday and Naco Night, Snowman Hank every Christmas, the ghoul girlfriend every Halloween. It gives me some amusement, Ronald--on a variety of levels--if you can call what I feel amusement. A man keeps his former lover imprisoned in the basement--and his wife doesn't resent it. He visits the imprisoned lover once a year--and the lover doesn't resent it. You see the paradox? I think it's full of irony, Ronald--don't you?"

Ron: (quietly) "I think Grandpa would have switched places with you, Aunt Kim,"

Kim: "Tell me this, dear nephew. Would he have switched situations? If one of my old boyfriends--say, Josh Mankey--or even Erik Drake himself--the synthodrone--had tricked your grandfather into being buried alive--and for whatever reason that defies science and logic--didn't die a natural death--but became a ghoul--a freak--would he still be good? Kind? Considerate? Would he have kept his innocence? Because I sure didn't! The good little Pixie Scout? The girl who could do anything? Who could save the world? She died the night she looked into a mirror and saw a rotting corpse staring back her. And you know the reason I hate your grandmother--and everything about her--so much? Your grandmother was a damned coward! If she had hit me on the head while I was drugged--or poisoned me--but she buried me alive! She had enough evil inside her to plot my murder--but she was too weak-hearted to actually get her hands dirty with a little blood!"

(The hellish voice rises to a banshee scream. Ron hugs himself and tries to stem the gut reactions of panic. As his Sensei has taught him, he does not suppress the emotion. Instead, he lets the waves wash around him and past him. What he suppresses is the reaction to run and find shelter--to beg and plead--to grovel on the ground.

He recalls what Sensei Yoriko has said: _"Remember, my student. Many things can take a man's life. A great calamity, like many armed men, or a natural disaster--or a small calamity, like illness, or old age. So therefore let not a thing fearful in appearance cause you fear. The end is the same, for all living things meet the same end."_

And when Kim's rage is spent, Ron opens his eyes and looks around. He is not in the presence of a horrid creature. He is in the well room of the family homestead, conversing with his poor aunt, stricken with a tragic affliction.)

Kim: (chuckling evilly) "Still there, dear nephew?"

Ron: (in a steady tone of voice) "Yes, Aunt Kim."

Kim: "You weren't frightened off? Good. You've got the Stoppable stubbornness and the Possible nerve. Both our ascendants--all our common ancestors--would be proud of you, Ron. And forgive your old aunt for venting her temper."

Ron: "Of course I forgive you, Aunt Kim."

Kim: "Good."

Ron: "Will you forgive the children of Tara Stoppable? Will you let them off the hook?"

Kim: (in a warning tone of voice) "Don't push it, Ron."

Ron: (both wary and considerate) "Okay."

Kim: "So tell me what you did today, Ronald."

Ron: "I went to a Shabbat Eve dinner in Denver with cousin Rhonda."

Kim: "So it's Friday?"

Ron: "Yes, Aunt Kim. Friday, November first, 2070."

Kim: "Hmm. Odd. I can guess to the minute when your family will come for their yearly visit with their old friend and permanent guest--or old live-in spinster aunt, in this case. But I've lost track of the days of the week--"

Ron: (chuckle)

Kim: "Did I just hear a chuckle out of you, Ron?"

Ron: "Yes, Ma-am. You did. Sorry. It was just that comment about 'spinster aunt'. But--to reassure you, it's not that I want to make fun of you. It's your humor--as surreal as I think it might be."

Kim: "You're a lot like your grandfather, Ron. Humor and courtesy. He loved a good joke. He loved to prank me, too. Almost as much as your other grandfather, Tim. Him and his brother."

Ron: "You called them the 'Tweebs'."

Kim: "Yes." ( silent a moment) "Tell me about your cousin Rhonda."

Ron: "It's Rhonda Stoppable. Uncle Lon's and Aunt Lauren's youngest daughter."

Kim: "And your Uncle Lon is your grandparents' oldest."

Ron: "Yes, Ma'am."

Kim: "And Lauren is Josh and Liz Mankey's daughter?"

Ron: "Yes, Ma'am."

Kim: (laughing sarcastically) "Well--isn't that special? The intermarriage of the Middleton High alumni. They won't all become inbred, will they?"

Ron: (laughing quietly) "I think it's still a genetically diverse group, Aunt Kim."

Kim: "So tell your Aunt Kim about her good friend Tara--seeing how I've been her guest for the past sixty years!

Ron: "Well--after your disappearance, Grandma Tara helped in the massive search operation around Middleton--"

Kim: (her voice rising out of the pipe like a chilling toxic fog--quiet but deadly) "Are you kidding me, Ron? Is this some kind of sick joke? Trying to reinvent that little murderess into a concerned friend and citizen. You're indulging in some gruesome humor, boy--and I know both the sight and sound of gruesome."

Ron: (steeling himself and speaking blandly) "Aunt Kim--let me remind you--it was you who asked about your 'good friend Tara'. And since we both know what kind of person she was at heart--at least as far as her feelings about you--I just thought that I wouldn't waste time and slow down the story by constantly bringing it up. All I'm doing is giving you a straight narrative. I assume that you can read between the lines."

Kim: (silent a moment--then the frightening chuckle again) "You're right, Ron. You shouldn't have to highlight your grandmother's evil streak, as though I were feeble-minded and incapable of understanding. Yes, in spite of my body decaying, my brain hasn't turned to rancid--much as I wish it had. And let me applaud your nerve, young man. You're developing quite a backbone. Why only a couple nights ago, you couldn't talk to me without wanting to defecate yourself, I bet. And now, listen to you--hardly a tremor in your voice. Although, I wasn't so brave when the little bitch buried me alive. And I wonder if you--or any living person--would be as brave if I were standing in front of them--without a reinforced concrete barrier between us. Your grandfather was the last person to try that--and it took the Lotus Blade and the Mystical Monkey Power to fend me off."

Ron: (calmly) "I have both those facilities at my command, Aunt Kim,"

Kim: "But you've piqued my interest. Tell me about this search for me--or my body."

Ron: (sounding like a tour guide) "The biggest search in history was mounted. Global Justice coordinated it. The super hero groups joined. The Justice League, the Avengers--both East Coast and West Coast, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Team Go, Team Impossible--"

Kim: "Team Impossible? You're aware they tried to shut me down."

Ron: "I know. They were on your side this time. The international policing agencies joined. S.H.I.E.L.D., Interpol, the New Scotland Yard, the F.B.I., even the KGB. Even the mystics--like Dr. Strange, Dr. Fate, Dr. Druid, the Scarlet Witch, and Zantanna. There were the mentalists, like Professor X. All the speed freaks. The Flash. Quicksilver. All looking for you. You cast a long shadow, Aunt Kim."

Kim: "That's rather disappointing, Ron. All those super heroes. All those superhuman powers. Guess they didn't find me. Did they find anyone missing?

Ron: "They flushed out dozens of terrorists and crime lords in countries that didn't have an extradition treaty. Guys who jumped bail, guys who jumped alimony, children who had been missing for years. but not you. The Cheer Squad and Varsity Club made a human chain along with the rest of Middleton. Bonnie Rockwaller was a basket case. Hardly ate or slept for two weeks. Had to be hospitalized--at Meadow Acres."

Kim: "The psychiatric hospital?"

Ron: "Yes. She was put on tube feeding and sedatives. She took it hard, Aunt Kim. Said she had to make up for all the crappy treatment she gave you. For a while, the investigators wondered if she might not be mixed up in your disappearance. But she jumped at the chance to have a polygraph test. She cried like a baby at your funeral. Ron had to take her aside and assure her that it wasn't her fault."

Kim: "My funeral?"

Ron: "Uh huh. All the dignitaries came. The Vice President, the Governor, Dr. Director, special envoys from France, the United Kingdom, and other countries. There were heads of state. King Wallace, Prince Wally, the Prime Minister of Canada, and the Prime Minister of Japan. All your arch-enemies came. Drakken and Shego, Duff Killigan, Dr. Demense, Dr. Hall--big business moguls like Pop Pop Porter, Toru Nakasumi, Philippe Bullion, Tony Stark--celebrities like Britina, the OBoyz, Heather and Quinn, Elsa Cleeg, Timothy North, Adrena Lynn, Rudolph Farnsworth, Summer Gale--on and on.

Kim: (laughing) "Hah! When I was a kid, if all those important officials had gotten together around all those super villains, I would've been a busy little teenage heroine rescuing one group and fighting off the other! But--continue."

Ron: "The Knights of Rodighan insisted on being the honor guard. Señor Senior, Sr. asked Wade Load to post a notice on your website. He would pay the travel expenses of anyone who wanted to come to your funeral. He figured that all the hundreds of people in the world you had helped in your missions would want to come and pay their respects. He kept his promise."

Kim: "I'm curious--was there a casket?"

Ron: "Yes. Your parents insisted on one. They felt that people needed a visible thing to make a connection with."

Kim: "Not to rain on my parents' parade--but obviously there was no body--not even any parts of me--which if they had waited, they could've stuck some parts in after your grandfather cut me up. What the hell **was **in it?"

Ron: "Personal items. Your folks put in your old braces and your Pixie Scout uniform. Grandpa put in the belt you gave him for the Half-a-Versary. Things like that."

Kim: (sullenly) "How touching. It makes me feel nauseous. I hope to God your grandmother Tara didn't stick anything in--since she already put me in here."

Ron: "No, Aunt Kim. Let me reassure you--she didn't."

Kim: "I guess I'm cheered up--as much as I can be, put in here."

Ron: "Your casket was in state for a week. Thousands came. Rabbi Katz and Pastor Davis officiated. After the funeral , your parents, and brothers, and Ron stood in the receiving line for hours. They talked to each mourner. Everyone had a story. Wade stood it for as long as he could. His agoraphobia kicked in and he had to be taken home."

Kim: "And while all this was going on, Tara King was skulking around like a ferret?"

Ron: "She was with her family."

Kim: "She didn't try to plant herself next to your grandfather?"

Ron: "No. Yoriko had that spot. Grandpa insisted on it."

Kim: "Where was Rufus?"

Ron: "He was perched on Grandpa's Ron's shoulder for the entire funeral. He wore a little tuxedo jacket and bow tie. Mrs. Mahoney was there--in a wheelchair."

Kim: "The lady who gave Ron and me a ride to our first mission."

Ron: "Uh-huh. Señor Senior, Sr. paid for Baxter Barnes and four of his mules to be flown in from Grand Canyon, Arizona. His mule team pulled the hearse that your casket was in."

Kim: "Did Ron keep doing missions?"

Ron: "Yes. Monique and Bonnie started doing missions with Grandpa."

Kim: "What about Bonnie and Seňor Senior, Jr.? I remember Bonnie was just about to grab her diploma out of Mr. Barkin's hand at Commencement when he pulled back."

Ron: "While Bonnie was in summer school, Seňor Senior, Jr. sort of got involved with Francois."

Kim: (blurting) "Francois? The Parisian hair stylist?"

Ron: "Exactly. Francois kept his shop in Paris, but he himself became a stylist to the rich and famous. He would travel the world--in Seňor Senior, Jr.'s private jet--with Jr. going with him, of course.

Kim: "Huh. Well that's a surprise. I didn't know either of them went that way."

Ron: "They would fly to a private airstrip in places like Aspen, Vegas, Tahiti, Dubai, Rio, Singapore. And then people like Britina and M.C. Honey would take the limo out to the airport."

Kim: "Jeez. Poor Bonnie. How'd she take it?"

Ron: "Bonnie was devastated. But then Brick was on leave. They fell in love again. They had a single daughter. Frances Belinda Flagg. They called her Frankie. But Brick was killed in Iraq."

Kim: "What went on with the rest of the class?"

Ron: "I'm trying to remember who was Valedictorian."

Kim: "Felix Renton."

Ron: "Why wasn't it Justine Flanner? I've read some of her articles. She was brilliant."

Kim: "She disowned us. She wrote a very arrogant letter to the main office, saying she wanted nothing to do with Middleton High. She blew off Commencement and was going to spend the night at the Robot Rumble--even though its three biggest members, cousin Larry, Vivian Porter, and Ned from Bueno Nacho, were going to be attending Commencement. About the only people at the Rumble were her and Oliver."

Ron: (incredulous) "Oliver the robot? Designed by Dr. Porter?"

Kim: (laughing) "Yep. The very same."

Ron: "That was the night of the Lowardian invasion."

Kim: "She stayed there for a marathon session. She was determined to avoid people."

(In one of the most unusual pairings to arise out of Kim and Ron's Middleton High School class, Justine Flanner had invited Malcolm Needious to their senior year's Sadie Hawkins Dance. Justine got pregnant the summer after high school graduation and they were married by autumn. Their daughter Janice was born in the winter of next year.

Justine had her PhD. in Quantum Physics and Timestream Acceleration by the time she was twenty three. Malcolm made a good living writing gaming software--and raised Janice while Justine went on the international lecture circuit.

Janice was home-schooled. But her mother enrolled her at Middleton High so she would graduate with her peers--for the "socialization", as Justine said. Janice was rumored to be most obnoxious student in her class.

"In her class?" grumbled Steve Barkin, still teaching at M.H.S. "Make that the most obnoxious student in the history of the High School.")

Kim: (suddenly in a voice filled with concern) "Ron--what happened to my close friends? Like Monique? And Wade?"

Ron: (slow to answer) "Are you sure you want to know, Aunt Kim? It isn't exactly living happily ever after."

Kim: "C'mon, dear nephew. You and your family owe me this. This is as close as I'm ever going to get to begging. I refuse to ever say the word 'please' again."

Ron: "Well--you remember Wade was infatuated with Monique--so he invented a 'love ray'."

Kim: "I do. That ended up very embarrassing--but we all had some laughs. Monique and Wade stayed close friends. But--go on."

Ron: (slowly, somberly) "Monique went to the Community College. She majored in Wardrobe Design. Then she went to work for Coco Banana. He acquired Elsa Cleeg's company and put Monique in charge. She eventually began her own designer line. She married a pro athlete, LeMonde Jenkins. He abused her and cheated on her. So she left him. Like the good guy he was, Wade showed up. They were still crazy for each other. They married and built a house in West Lowerton, a newly incorporated municipality. They had twins. Wynan and Washonda. Wade's folks, Ophelia, and Lontaine, were still running the inner city ministry in downtown Lowerton.

"While Wade was home one night with the kids, Monique, Ophelia, and Lontaine were down at the Mission. (halting) A girl gang came in an trashed the place. They shot and killed Monique."

Kim: (in a stricken voice) "Ron! No!"

Ron: "I'm afraid so, Aunt Kim."

Kim: "Oh, God--dammit, Ron--Just like Wade's natural father."

Ron: "Wade sort of lost interest in life after that. He just spent the rest of his life in the house he had built for Monique. He raised the twins, with the help of the robotic nannies and his mother. And he still kept coordinating missions for Ron, and Joss, and your brothers. But he never stepped outside again. Not even for Lontaine's of Ophelia's funerals."

Kim: (sighing) "--Like me."

Ron: "Yes, Aunt Kim. Like you, in a way. And then one morning, when Washonda was going to visit, he simply wasn't there. Not a trace. Until they analyzed the audio-visual sequence from the home security system. He had collapsed during the night."

Kim: "What of?"

Ron: "They couldn't tell. Heart attack. Stroke. Broken heart."

Kim: "What happened to Wade's body?"

Ron: "The Wadebot took the body and put it in the nuclear incinerator. Wade's body was disintegrated to atoms."

Kim: "Did anyone check for clues?"

Ron: "Yes. The best minds at the Middleton Space Center and Propulsion Lab took the Wadebot apart."

Kim: "You mean my dad."

Ron: "Yes--and Dr. Vivian Porter. And your brothers. The Wadebot had performed a total memory wipe on itself."

(Ron continues. When Kim was a little girl, one of her favorite pastimes was to listen to Nana Possible tell family stories. And Ron Possible had the same gift.

Ron goes on for hours. Kim listens intently, fascinated. Her attention is absolutely riveted. It seems that she is transported beyond the narrow confines of her prison, and every moment of her sixty year-plus imprisonment is crowded with sights and sounds. It's like she was there.

At last he concludes. But her nephew's youthful enthusiasm is no match for his aunt's unnatural Undead endurance. She has not slept for sixty years. But one night has left him exhausted. He takes his leave.)

Ron: "Love you, Aunt Kim. Goodnight."

Kim: (sarcastically) "Don't kill yourself tripping on the stairs, Ron. The last person here can't turn the light out. And she doesn't have a cent to pay the bill with." (her sarcasm belies her astonishment--she and her nephew have had a rational conversation--and he will come back for more)

(And Kim listens to the sounds of the door closing and Ron's footsteps going up the stairs. The light bulb in the pump room remains on.

She stares starkly at the pipe. The story related to her in gentle voice of her great-grandnephew echoes in her mind. It has an effect on her she would have never anticipated. Faces appear in her memory--as clear and sharp as though she had seen them just yesterday.

_Bonnie--you lost Brick--oh, Bon--I'm so sorry--I should've been there. Monique. My best friend in high school, next to Ron. If I weren't sealed up, I could've done something--maybe. Wade. Oh, God--Wade, I can only imagine. The terrible sorrow you must've felt. And then to die all alone--no one there with you--just tossed into the incinerator. What kind of way is that to pass out of this world? Even I had a zillion people who cared about me, who were looking for me. And a huge funeral--even though I was stuck in here_

So much hurt on the lives of those she used to know. So much pain.

She sinks to her knees. A great loneliness blossoms in her soul, like the time her mother went to the hospital to give birth. Her father left her with her nana. Ron got to sleep over that night, too. But for the first time in her life, she really missed someone. As a little girl, she cried herself to sleep that night.

And now all are gone. _Nana. Daddy. Mommy. I miss you. I love you. I wish I could've told you that before you died. Ron. I'm sorry. I didn't mean all those things I said._

She wants to throw herself back onto the thing that always been her protection against the awful ache of loneliness and rejection--her hatred for Tara, Ron, and all their children. But at the moment, she has not the heart for it.

Kim swallows a sob. She leans her head against the wall and sighs. Tonight there is no insane demonic loathing in her heart. Only dejection. She sits on the floor against the wall and draws her knees up to her chin.

Only gradually, over the next few hours, does it occur to her . And the realization is shocking. Not all were gone. There is someone who still cares. Her nephew--the grandson of her mission partner and high school boyfriend--the great-grandson of her parents. And even more shocking still--she cares in return. The feelings are reciprocated.

_I want him back. I want to hear more. I __**need **__to hear more. I've got to know--please, God. There __**has**__ to be some happiness out there in the lives of the people I used to know.)_

_**to be continued**_

There you go. I've released some of my secrets. This began as a simple tale of rescuing Kim from the dark side. But it snowballed. I'll just be going along and the Muse (or Plot Bunny) will wink and say, "But what about this certain character?"

And grinning like a yokel, I'll say, "Sure!" Like Ron is baiting Kim, I'm hooked. And little by little, the answers unfold.

Your humble fanwriter begs his readers' patience. As my inspiration and strength persist, I will share it all with you.


End file.
